Batgirl: Year One by Scott Beatty & Chuck Dixon, Marcos Martin, and Alvaro Lopez

Batgirl: Year One: The Deluxe Edition

Collection published: 2019
Contents originally published: 2003
Acquired: July 2025 
Read: March 2026

Writers: Scott Beatty & Chuck Dixon
Penciller: Marcos Martin
Inker: Alvaro Lopez
Colorist: Javier Rodriguez
Letterer: Willie Schubert

Maybe I've been spending too much time on Reddit's "Omnibus Collectors" sub, but recently I've been tracking down nice deluxe editions of classic DC storylines. On a very flimsy pretext, I purchased JLA: Year One; I also added a couple others to my wishlist, and I received this as a birthday present, the deluxe edition of Batgirl: Year One, which I borrowed from the library over a decade ago.

The original "Year One" was of course Batman: Year One, justly a classic, which established a "post-Crisis" origin for Batman. DC returned to this concept many different times and ways over the years; for example, in 1995, every DCU title's annual was a "Year One" story. One briefly common approach was the "Year One" miniseries: there were a whole spate of these in the 2000s, giving post-Crisis origins for characters like Robin, Green Arrow, Metamorpho, and the Huntress. I haven't enjoyed every one that I've read, but when they work, they really work: usually DC handed the reigns over to a high-profile creative team and got them to do good work in a timeless tale that stands alone. (And, of course, the post-Crisis pre-Flashpoint iteration of the DC universe is the best one, i.e., it's the one that was in effect when I got into superhero comics.)  

There's a nicely done subplot about how Commissioner Gordon knows Barbara is Batgirl... but just can't admit it to himself.
from Batgirl: Year One #9

Batgirl: Year One is no exception to this. Chuck Dixon isn't my favorite scripter, but he was everywhere on the Batman books in the 2000s, including Birds of Prey, so he was a good choice for Barbara Gordon's origin; outside of Robin and Nightwing: Year One, I'm less familiar with co-writer Scott Beatty's work, but he has done some very solid, very fun Batman-adjacent standalones, like the team-up with Elongated Man in Gotham Knights. And the quality work of Marcos Martin and Alvaro Lopez on this book is indisputable; they both seem like the kinds of illustrators who ought to have done more comics than they have. Their work here is slick and bold and stylized, full of energy that perfectly communicates the attitude of Barbara Gordon at this point in her life and superheroic career. The colors of Javier Rodriguez are excellent, too, bright and energetic.

Maybe I shouldn't be wasting one of my two images from Batgirl: Year One on a totally different character, but I can never say no to Dinah Laurel Lance.
from Batgirl: Year One #7

I don't think this is a great work of art. To be honest, I think the plot is unnecessarily confusing, and parts of it are a bit belabored. But what better "Year One" story could there be for Barbara Gordon? This is perfect bubblegum comics.

Golden Age Secret Files & Origins by John Ostrander, Cliff Chiang, et al.

Back in the late 1990s and early 2000s, DC did a lot of "Secret Files & Origins" one-shots, which would have a couple short stories about a character or theme, coupled with some profile pages or other in-universe background. There were two JSA ones, as well as one JLA/JSA one, the stories from which are all collected in the JSA by Geoff Johns collections. But aside from a five-page story included in The Justice Society Returns!, this one has gone uncollected, so I picked it up on its own.

There is some JSA focus here (the aforementioned story and a profile page), but much of the issue focuses on the Crimson Avenger. "The Crimson" was, I think, DC's second superhero in publication order, following Superman, which meant that following the Crisis on Infinite Earths, he was the first one.* The story "The Dawn of the Golden Age," written by John Ostrander and drawn by Cliff Chiang, focuses on this legacy; reporter Clark Kent tries to figure out what motivated Lee Travis to put on a costume and fight crime. What the story does is kind of clever; it reinstates Superman as the first superhero by having Travis be inspired by a vision of the future where he sees Superman! It's a nice story, supplemented by some strong art from an early Cliff Chiang, who I always like. Ostrander, as always, is good at character voices and continuity, which is exactly what this story needs. There's also a text story in the form of a faux newspaper interview of Travis by Jonathan Law (the Tarantula from All-Star Squadron) and a profile page. Back when I read the Thomases' The Crimson Avenger: The Dark Cross Conspiracy, I said you could make a good trade out of that, Secret Origins #5, and DC Comics Presents #38. Well, now clearly you would chuck in this stuff to wrap it all up; it would make a good follow-up to the DCCP story.

script by John Ostrander, art by Cliff Chiang

"The Dawn of the Golden Age" is a full twenty-page story; the rest of the volume is filled out with shorter ones. I already discussed "Scenes From The Class Struggle at J.S.A. Mansion" when I read it in Justice Society Returns!; the other two are a kind of funny story about Dr. Occult trying to get Zatara the Magician to be become a crimefighter and a frankly baffling one about young Dr. Sivana.

Decent stuff overall; as a fan of the post–Golden Age Crimson Avenger, I'm glad I tracked it down.

* Sometimes, anyway. Sandman Mystery Theatre pushed the Sandman's debut back so that it preceded the Crimson's, for example... but the story here ignores that and has Sandy explicitly say Wes was inspired by the case of the Crimson Avenger and the Phantom of the Fair. That said, Sandy wasn't around yet when that happened, so what does he know?

 

Golden Age Secret Files & Origins was originally published in one issue (Feb. 2001). The comic stories were written by John Ostrander, Tom Peyer, Peter Gross, and Jason Hernandez-Rosenblatt; pencilled by Cliff Chiang, Peter Grau, Peter Gross, and Jamal Igle; inked by Cliff Chiang, Claude St. Aubin, Peter Gross, and Rod Ramos; colored by Tom McCraw; and lettered by John Costanza and Richard Starkings. The text story and profile pages were written by Scott Beatty, and the profile pages were illustrated by Peter Grau & Christian Alamy, Mike Collins & Bob McLeod, Mark Propst, and Michael Lark. The issue was edited by Tony Bedard.

 

This post is thirty-third in a series about the Justice Society and Earth-Two. The next installment covers JSA by Geoff Johns, Book Three. Previous installments are listed below:

1. All Star Comics: Only Legends Live Forever (1976-79)
2. The Huntress: Origins (1977-82)
3. All-Star Squadron (1981-87)
4. Infinity, Inc.: The Generations Saga, Volume One (1983-84)
5. Infinity, Inc.: The Generations Saga, Volume Two (1984-85)
6. Showcase Presents... Power Girl (1978)
7. America vs. the Justice Society (1985)
8. Jonni Thunder, a.k.a. Thunderbolt (1985)
9. Crisis on Multiple Earths, Volume 7 (1983-85)
10. Infinity, Inc. #11-53 (1985-88) [reading order]
11. Last Days of the Justice Society of America (1986-88)
12. All-Star Comics 80-Page Giant (1999)
13. Steel, the Indestructible Man (1978)
14. Superman vs. Wonder Woman: An Untold Epic of World War Two (1977)
• Wonder Woman: Earth-Two (1977-78)
15. Secret Origins of the Golden Age (1986-89)
16. The Young All-Stars (1987-89)
17. Gladiator (1930) ["Man-God!" (1976)]
    
18. The Crimson Avenger: The Dark Cross Conspiracy (1981-88)
19. The Immortal Doctor Fate (1940-82)
20. Justice Society of America: The Demise of Justice (1951-91)
21. Armageddon: Inferno (1992)
22. Justice Society of America vol. 2 (1992-93)
23. The Adventures of Alan Scott--Green Lantern (1992-93)
24. Damage (1994-96)
25. The Justice Society Returns! (1999-2001)
26. Chase (1998-2002)
27. Stargirl by Geoff Johns (1999-2003)
28. The Sandman Presents: The Furies (2002)
29. JSA by Geoff Johns, Book One (1999-2000)
30. Wonder Woman: The 18th Letter: A Love Story (2000)
31. Two Thousand (2000)
32. JSA by Geoff Johns, Book Two (1999-2003)
    

Faster than a DC Bullet: Project Gotham, Part XXVIII: Nightwing: Year One

Comic trade paperback, n.pag.
Published 2005 (contents: 2005)
Borrowed from the library
Read January 2016

Nightwing: Year One

Writers: Scott Beatty & Chuck Dixon
Penciller: Scott McDaniel
Inker: Andy Owens
Colorist: Jason Wright
Letterer: Phil Balsman

Year Eleven, March
Nightwing: Year One is the last of the Beatty/Dixon-written "Year One" collaborations, both in my reading order and in terms of publication. This one expands on events only briefly chronicled in Batman: Second Chances to show how Dick Grayson decided to become Nightwing. It opens with Dick coming to Batman's aid in a battle with Clayface, but later than Batman would like, owing to Dick's duties with the Teen Titans.

They argue, and Batman ends up firing Dick-- this doesn't replace the firing depicted in Second Chances, though, as Dick declares he's been fired before, and the timeline of Dick's life in the front of the book includes the Second Chances firing in its events. So apparently much of Nightwing: Year One takes place during the single issue in Second Chances where Dick is fired and Batman first meets Jason Todd; the book as a whole overlaps with Second Chances a lot, as we don't see how Batman meets Jason or selects him as the new Robin, but we do see some of his training. In the meantime, Dick goes back to his old circus and gets a job there and meets Deadman, but the call of crimefighting pulls him, and building on a conversation he had with Superman, he decides to go into action again as his own man: Nightwing.

This book isn't terrible by any means, but it didn't really work for me. There are three main reasons, I think. The first is that Bruce Wayne is just an absolute asshole here. In Second Chances, he "fired" Dick because he was worried for Dick's safety. Here, he does it because Dick can't live up to the impossible standards he imposes on him, refusing to allow Dick defeating criminals with the Teen Titans to excuse him from working with Batman. I feel like you could write these two men drifting apart as they both grow older without making one of them as an arbitrary jerk, but I suppose no one ever hired Chuck Dixon to write a comic book with subtlety in its characterization.

"ANY POSITION LESS THAN TOTALLY UNREASONABLE IS ONE THAT IT IS SIMPLY WASTING MY TIME TO HOLD. (DON'T FORGET THAT I'M THE MAN WHO TOLD YOU PUNK MUSIC WAS SATANIC.)"
from Nightwing vol. 2 #101

The second issue I have is the book's last few chapters, which do retcon some of Second Chances out of existence specifically, the "ONE YEAR AGO" issue where Dick first meets Jason. Here, Bruce manipulates Dick into participating in Jason's "Gauntlet," his final test to be a full-time Robin, where the two of them are meant to team up to save Alfred from Two-Face (although Two-Face is actually Alfred in disguise). Things go awry, but the two succeed in saving the day without the help of a sedated Batman. It's a fun adventure on its own merits, but it's a weirdly Batman-centric choice for the climax of a volume about Dick Grayson becoming his own man. I'd rather have seen him fighting his own villain(s), far away from the whole Batman clan.

Lastly, there's the art. I've never liked the team of Scott McDaniel and Andy Owens, not since they were Judd Winick's artists on Green Arrow, and I don't like them here. I think it's their way with faces, which just look weird and indistinct to me.

Clark Kent pretending to like hockey is pretty amusing.
from Nightwing vol. 2 #102

This is a likable book. Dixon is always good at writing action. The appearance of Deadman is fun (if a little pointless), and I liked Dick's talk with Superman. Alfred's final gift to Dick is pretty nice, and makes perfect sense. I wanted to like the flirting between Dick and Barbara more, but I don't think McDaniel and Owens made their body language work, and Barbara felt weirdly subordinate to Batman in his secret plans-- she's usually much more off on her own in my experience. Overall, Nightwing: Year One is fun, but kind of misjudged.

Oh, that Dick Grayson. What a charmer.
from Nightwing vol. 2 #104

Incidentally, this is the last "flashback" tale in my readthrough, I believe; all subsequent stories will take place in their era of publication.

Next Week: The Joker is back, which is bad news for the Gordon family in The Killing Joke!

Faster than a DC Bullet: Project Gotham, Part XXI: Batgirl: Year One

Comic trade paperback, 213 pages
Published 2003
Borrowed from the library
Read October 2015

Batgirl: Year One

Writers: Scott Beatty, Chuck Dixon
Penciller: Marcos Martin
Inker: Alvaro Lopez
Colorist: Javier Rodriguez
Letterer: Willie Schubert

Year Four, July
I had wanted to really like Robin: Year One from (mostly) the same creative team as this story, but found it a bit disappointing. Not terrible, but I didn't feel like it really gave very much insight into Robin. So it was with a little apprehension that I approached Batgirl: Year One-- but that needn't have been the case, as Batgirl: Year One is excellent. The story covers the first few months of Batgirl's career, filling in with the occasional flashbacks to Barbara Gordon's pre-crimefighting life. Barbara wants to enroll in the police academy, but is too short, and beside, her father is entirely against letting her be in the same line of work as him. Deciding to tweak him by turning up at a costume benefit gala in a homemade Batgirl costume, she ends up accidentally becoming a crimefighter when the Killer Moth turns up, and then decides to run with it.

Batgirl: Year One gives us a succession of adventures as she "proves" herself to Batman. (Robin is, of course, smitten from the beginning. I think Barbara is 16 and Robin 14 during this time?) Along the way, we also see the miserable career of the Killer Moth (who no one takes seriously), Barbara teams up with Black Canary for the first time (but certainly not the last!), and Batgirl and Robin take down the Condiment King (yes!). The book is just fun and vibrant: the main tension with Batman comes from the fact that Barbara doesn't have a "reason" to fight crime. Bruce and Dick both lost their parents to crime, but Barbara just wants to help as best she can, and this turns out to be enough.

Some of the pages of my library copy are a little wrinkly.
from Batgirl: Year One #8

Everything conspires to make this book work: the charming narration by Barbara, the banter between the characters (like in Snow, I can totally hear Kevin Conroy saying all of Batman's dialogue), Javier Rodriguez's vibrant colors, and most of all, the expressive artwork of Marcos Martin and Alvaro Lopez. Their art is energetic and dynamic, their storytelling is rock-solid, and they just bring the whole book to life. The book was a joy to read from start to finish. I'm not saying every superhero comic should be this way, but it wouldn't hurt if more of them were!

Next Week: Batgirl continues her adventures in the confusingly titled Batman: Batgirl!

Faster than a DC Bullet: Project Gotham, Part XIX: Robin: Year One

Comic trade paperback, 199 pages
Published 2002 (contents: 2001)
Borrowed from the library
Read March 2015

Robin: Year One

Writers: Chuck Dixon, Scott Beatty
Pencillers: Javier Pulido, Marcos Martin
Inker: Robert Campanella
Colorist: Lee Loughridge
Letterer: Sean Konot

Year Three, August - Year Four, January
Having read Batgirl: Year One since finishing this, but before writing this review, it's impossible for me not to see Robin: Year One as a dry run for the later comics by (mostly) the same creative team. Batgirl: Year One is fun, bold, and matches the personality of its protagonist extraordinarily well; Robin: Year One feels as though it is striving toward these things, but not quite reaching them. Which is perhaps unfair to Robin: Year One, but I thought it was a fine comic, while Batgirl: Year One was a perfect one. I have some sense of what being Robin means to Dick Grayson after reading this, but not as much as what Batgirl: Year One gives me of Barbara and Batgirl.

Next Week: That's it for Batman for now (don't worry, he'll be back in a few months). Now, we plunge back into the world of CRISES, specifically in this case, Final Crisis. But first, a recap of recent events in the DCU with the novelization of 52!